After arresting "the high school girl killer" Jang Yungi, 23, and taking over the case, police were found to have conveyed key investigative developments to the suspect's family member, an active-duty police officer.
According to Yonhap News and police on the 6th, after Jang Yungi was arrested, an official at Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station contacted Jang's father, Inspector Jang, by mobile phone and informed him about investigative procedures, including a search and seizure and an application for an arrest warrant.
Immediately after Jang Yungi was apprehended, dozens of phone calls were reportedly exchanged between Inspector Jang and Gwangsan Police Station. These calls were said to have mixed content, including persuading the suspect through family, guidance on securing custody, and the arrest procedures.
Police said the handling did not differ from ordinary case processing, such as making a phone consolidation between the suspect and a guardian inside a statement recording room with the entire investigative team present.
However, the fact of these phone calls was not entered into the investigative record. Regarding the dozens of currency logs, it has not been fully confirmed who contacted whom and about what.
Prosecutors learned of this while conducting supplementary investigations, including a search and seizure of Jang Yungi's family home, and are separately reviewing whether investigative team officials may have committed crimes such as leaking official secrets.
A prosecution official said, "At the current stage, it is difficult to disclose the details."
Police said there was no problem with the investigative procedures. A police official said, "The detention and search and seizure of Jang Yungi, who committed murder and was caught, were situations anyone could have predicted," adding, "Individual contacts with the guardian were mostly handled by the lowest-ranking staff with no ties whatsoever to Inspector Jang."
The Korean National Police Agency headquarters is conducting an internal affairs probe into various suspicions surrounding the officers who handled the Jang Yungi case. The subjects of the probe include how key evidence—such as the "damaged sex doll" found in Jang's rented room and the SUV used to tail the victim and flee after the crime—was handed over to the family early in the investigation.
Also reportedly under review are why the forensic report related to the sex doll was not forwarded to prosecutors in a timely manner and how the address of Jang Yungi's rented room and its entry passcode were conveyed to Inspector Jang.